Such an arrangement is known from DE-PS No. 28 55 593. In said Patent Specification, wound-up stranding elements are drawn through cable passages in a fixed lay plate to an oscillating lay plate having a varying direction of rotation. Between the fixed lay plate and the oscillating lay plate the stranding elements extending about the central element in a right-hand turn are reversed into a left-hand turn via an almost straight layer. In this process, the stranding elements may be provided on a tube surrounding the central element. However, more suitable embodiments are those in which the turn is realized by a number of lay plates which are equally divided between the fixed lay plate and the oscillating lay plate and which are different, but driven at the same speed of rotation and in the same direction. In either embodiment there is between the fixed lay plate and the oscillating lay plate a lay of the stranding elements which changes from a maximum to a minimum at the frequency of the reversing frequency. Consequently, when the pull-off speed from the oscillating lay plate is constant the stranding elements pass through the fixed lay plate in a pulsating way. If the stranding elements were directly pulled off the supply reel, breaking forces would lead to high tensile loads of the stranding elements. This is precluded by the use of a stress controller which in the present case takes the form of a rotatably and movable roller which presses the stranding elements which are led over two spaced-apart fixed rollers down the interspace, in a perpendicular direction with respect to the pull-off direction, thus forming an additional slag which ideally must compensate the reduction in lay between the fixed lay plate and the oscillating lay plate.
It has been found, however, that in spite of an excellent length compensation changes in pull-off forces remain which form, through changes in the tensile load, intolerable loads to the susceptible stranding element of telecommunication cables and, in particular, to optical cables at the location of the stranding point.